It's Not Fair! 

Author: John Corns

"You’ve changed the rules while we’ve been playing!"

How many times have I heard that one before?

When we were young, we played on the local playground which was on the field at the back of St Anne’s School. It was full of old air raid shelters from World War 2. Just the place for kids to play 'tick.' When one of us claimed victory by chasing his opponent and touching him sometimes with great force, the response was often, “I’m not out Cause I’m barley.” By saying that the boy who had been caught indicated that because he was off the ground he could not be caught. An argument followed during which the chaser complained that the rules had been changed during the game.

When God made the world it was perfect, and he was pleased. However, man and woman came along and messed things up by listening to Satan’s devious claims that God only wanted to keep his created beings in a state of darkness and ignorance.
God’s rule, that he carefully explained to this man and woman, was that in return for the beauty and total security and provision of their new home He wanted their complete trust and  obedience, nothing less would be enough. They had failed!

God did not give up there though...

Through the centuries before Christ came, God tried and tried to keep human beings close to himself. But people were unable to because of their sins - their selfish desires and determination to do things their own way rather than God's.

The Bible, God’s word, tells of how many people before Jesus was born, tried to please God but, still failed when they trusted in the futility of their own selves, and their own efforts. When they came before God with humility and asked for his forgiveness, he forgave them. Because they had come to him in FAITH believing their real repentance and humility would gain his approval.

The Bible’s Old Testament is full of such people; Abraham, Moses, David and Solomon, to name but a few. God did in fact make a way that they could all get right with him through the annual animal sacrifices he prescribed. However as the people's disobedience and rejection of Him only increased, the time came when God had had enough. He did not speak to his people Israel for over 500 years.
 
BUT I AM GLAD THAT GOD DID CHANGE THE RULES!

He changed the rules because the old way had failed, it was always going to! It was only ever a shadow of the greater sacrifice God would make on our behalf. It failed not because God had messed things up, but because e his people had! God always wanted to bring people back to himself, but he could not leave it up to them.

These new way or new rules revolved around the one-and-for-all sacrifice of his Son on the Cross. His Son Jesus was to become a the final sacrifice for us by allowing himself to be put to death on the cross thus paying the price for my sins - and for yours too!
By doing this He has made it possible for us to come back to God by trusting in Jesus’ death for our forgiveness.

Notice, it's not by anything we have done! What Jesus has done for me is to bring me "back into play" in God’s everlasting game, or real game LIFE.

So, unlike the lad on St Anne’s field, I’m certainly not going to complain that the rules are different now! I am more than happy to play it God’s way and be sure that I will always be on the winning side in the End.